Good Intentions
by Aromene
Summary: In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Bella tries to befriend her soon-to-be sister, but things don't go quite as well as she hoped.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Admittedly, it was a few days ago that I last checked, but at the time I didn't own the Twilight universe. I highly doubt that's changed since.**

**AN: More than one person asked for a Bella and Rosalie bonding fic. I just couldn't think how to get them alone without Alice in the picture. However, you'll be pleased that this one involves not a whit of shopping (unless you count museum bookstores).**

Considering Alice's ability to see the future, Bella had to admit that the pixie vampire sometimes came up with really bad ideas.

Her newest one was a bid to make sure that Bella and Rosalie spent some 'sister time' together. Bella tried to tell Alice from the outset that it was a recipe for disaster, but since Rosalie had – surprisingly – agreed to the idea, Bella finally relented, though reluctantly.

'This is a good thing,' Edward repeated one more time as he held open the passenger door of her new and completely unwanted car.

'And I disagree,' Bella repeated her answer.

Edward sighed. 'She is trying to make an effort. You have to admit that that's more than Rosalie has ever done for you. Please try to make this a pleasant trip?'

Bella glanced over at Rosalie, who was just coming out of the house. 'I'll try,' she promised him.

'Thank you,' Edward smiled and kissed her quickly.

Rosalie had agreed to come on Alice's little sister-bonding adventure only with a few stipulations. One was that she got to drive Bella's new car. Bella was completely alright with that. So far, the other Cullens had spent more time behind the wheel of it than she had and Bella was rather hoping that would continue. The second stipulation was that Rosalie got to choose the destination, so long as Alice didn't foresee any problems. Which was why they were off for a weekend getaway to Vancouver. It was close enough that Alice had wheedled Charlie into letting Bella go and far enough away to fulfil Alice's 'getaway' requirement.

'Got your passport?' Edward asked as Rosalie climbed into the driver's seat.

'Yes, Edward,' Bella sighed.

'She'll be fine,' Alice announced with her usual enthusiasm. She was taking the backseat for this trip, since it was supposed to be about Bella and _Rosalie_. Bella wasn't sure how making them share the front seat of a car was really going to inspire bonding.

'Then have a good trip,' he announced to the car in general and with one last peck on Bella's cheek he closed the door.

'Everyone ready?' Alice asked.

'Yes,' Bella said.

'Can we just get on with this?' Rose asked.

Alice sighed, loudly. 'All yours sister. But Bella gets to pick the music, remember.'

The car was, of course, equipped with an amazing sound system that Bella had so far ignored. She was sure Emmett had given it a go already though.

'Yes, yes,' Rosalie responded, sounding even more annoyed. 'But if I have to listen to Mozart for the next two hundred miles, I'm going to rethink that.'

'I don't like Mozart,' Bella admitted.

Rosalie gave her an appraising look, but finally nodded. 'Then it's your choice,' she said and handed over the iPod.

It was not one Bella recognised. 'Who's is this?'

'Mine,' Alice told her. 'But I put a whole bunch of new stuff on it. There's a few playlists, but you can pick whatever you want.'

Bella scrolled through the options. It was hard to tell what music was in each playlist, just based on their titles. She finally picked one at random.

The first song that came over the car's state of the art sound system was not one she recognised, but Rosalie smiled a bit. Bella decided that was a good start.

'Can I go now?' their driver asked.

'Yes!' Alice announced in a voice that clearly suggested even her patience level with Rosalie's mood would not last long.

Edward gave one final wave from the front porch as they drove off and Bella cast a longing look his way. Three days without her fiancé wasn't high on her list of things to do. But then, at least she'd gotten her own stipulation in for this trip. It had taken a bit of needling, but Rosalie had finally chipped in her agreement. Faced with two against one, Alice had relented. There would be no shopping.

Bella had a pretty good idea that Alice would try anyways; somehow, somewhere. But at least with Rosalie on the right side, there was little worry about an afternoon spent in a mall. In fact, they planned to hit a few culture centres, take in a movie, enjoy the nice-but-not-sunny weather Vancouver offered, and pretend for a few days that they were all typical teenage girls. Bella was particularly looking forward to this last part, since none of the three of them would normally fall into that category.

It was a pleasant drive around the National Forest and up to the ferry at Port Townsend. Bella had only been that far once before, on a summer visit with Charlie. He'd driven up to Deception Pass State Park for a weekend. Since Bella hadn't liked the great outdoors at nine anymore than she liked them at eighteen, it had been a less than pleasant trip. And there had been fishing involved. Which she really hadn't appreciated.

They stopped in Bellingham to allow her a human moment. So far there hadn't been a single argument or even a disagreeable look from Rosalie. Bella supposed it might actually be possible that they could all be pleasant to each other for a few days, but Monday still seemed a long way off.

At the border crossing a cute young guard did his level best not to flirt with Rosalie, though the blond vampire was making it very hard for him. Still, he waved them through with only a few easy questions. Bella felt a little sorry for the man, since he'd probably broken protocol, all thanks to Rosalie's dazzling charms.

They checked into the hotel for a late lunch, at least for the human third of the trio. Bella had also talked Alice out of the most expensive hotel in the city, so they were at the Hilton instead.

Since the afternoon was warm, but nicely overcast, Alice suggested a trip to Stanley Park at the north side of the city. They drove the car up and spent the next few hours walking the well kept paths. Rosalie even suggested a brief trip to the aquarium and seemed quite happy to wander around looking at fish for an hour. Alice managed about ten seconds in the gift shop before Rosalie bodily dragged her out, not at all happy that a stipulation had already been broken.

'Sorry, Bella,' Alice apologised. 'I thought I'd look for something for Carlisle. This is one of his favourite cities.'

'Really?' Bella asked, curious as always about any family history.

'Yes, we lived here in the late 70s. It's a great city, really and the weather usually cooperates,' she winked.

'It seems pretty nice,' Bella had to admit. Though they'd so far only driven through it, what she had seen from the highway looked nice enough, especially on the south side of town. And Stanley Park was certainly better than anything in Phoenix. City parks were nice, since they allowed a person to see a lot of green without really being in the 'outdoors'. A slow stroll through an urban park was preferable to an afternoon hike through the Olympic forest.

Dinner ended up as room service. Bella didn't have a single complaint, because it was easier for her travelling companions and a lot more fun than some fancy expensive restaurant. That would wait until Saturday.

'How about a movie?' Alice suggested, with a pointed look at her sister.

'Sure,' Rosalie shrugged, a move that sent a strand of golden hair falling over her shoulder. Bella had no idea how shrugging could be graceful, but Rosalie managed it.

'You can pick,' Bella suggested. 'You let me chose the music in the car.'

There was an almost uncomfortably long pause. 'Okay,' Rose finally said. 'Thanks,' she added after a beat.

Bella gave her a tentative smile. So far, so good.

They ended up watching The Producers on one of the pay channels. It seemed the least likely to cause anyone to throw something at the TV and they all agree that a chick flick was out.

None of them had actually seen it yet, a fact that surprised Bella a bit, since Alice and Rosalie had a lot of time on their hands. When she happened to say exactly that out loud, Rosalie snorted softly, in a very ladylike way.

'We don't spend our endless hours of time watching every movie that's ever been made. Most of us read or have a hobby. I spend most of my time in the garage.'

'Oh, right,' Bella admitted. 'You really like cars?'

That got a smile. 'I understand them. I find automatic engineering interesting; I've studied it before. Mostly, I just like fiddling with them. And it's fun to make the 'sports' cars we buy go faster.'

'Huh,' Bella said. 'I don't really...get cars.'

'I'll be that changes,' the blond challenged. 'Especially when you see what Edward bought for –'

'No!' Alice cried. 'You can't _tell_ her! It's a surprise!'

'Alice, it's not like I'm even going to know what it is if you do,' Bella admonished. 'But if Rosalie already likes it, I'm probably going to hate it.'

'Maybe,' was all Rosalie said.

'Maybe we can _watch_ the _movie_?' Alice seemed to be a bit annoyed. Considering her sister and best friend had just had the longest conversation of their lives thus far, Bella thought she could be a little less sarcastic.

'Sure, Alice,' she said aloud.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Admittedly, it was a few days ago that I last checked, but at the time I didn't own the Twilight universe. I highly doubt that's changed since.**

It was inevitable. After a long day in the car, a few miles around the park and a few exhausting months, Bella fell asleep half way through the movie. She must have slept through being moved too, because when she woke up the next morning it was to be lying on one of the Queen-sized beds.

The clock said it was just after eight. 'Alice?' she called to the seemingly empty room.

'Good morning!' the pixie popped her head around the bathroom door. Her hair was already in its usual spikes and she was dressed in a different outfit than the day before. 'Have a good sleep?'

'Yeah, actually,' Bella admitted. Maybe Alice was right and she really did need this little get away from it all. It certainly had been a trying few months.

'Great! Now you can get up and shower and I'll order breakfast for you.'

'Where's Rosalie?' Bella asked, having noticed the obvious lack of the blonde.

'She went for a quick hunt north of the city.'

'She needed to hunt?' Bella asked, with some disbelief. It was unlikely that Rosalie hadn't hunted before this little trip, or that she was already so thirsty as to need another go.

'Well, when I say hunt...' Alice trailed off with a wink.

'Oh,' Bella realised. 'Um, how long does it take to get here from Forks at a...run?'

Alice giggled. 'Not long at all, but she's been gone a few hours.'

'Right,' Bella said. That was enough information for the day. 'You done in the bathroom?'

'All yours. Breakfast?'

Bella shrugged as she climbed out from the mound of covers that had been placed over her. 'Surprise me,' was the suggestion.

Alice seemed to find that quite amusing.

When Bella emerged from the steamy bath a half hour later, Rosalie was sitting on the sofa.

'Did you have a good hunt?' Bella asked, since it was polite to ask and impolite to ask the truth.

Rosalie gave her an almost friendly look. 'The hunting was very...beneficial.'

'Really?' Alice asked, trying and failing to arch a delicate eyebrow. 'That's what you're going with? _Beneficial_?'

'Well, I was benefited!' the blonde laughed.

'Don't want to know,' Bella mumbled under her breath as she settled herself on the sofa. She made sure to keep a respectable distance from Rosalie's spot, but the couch was only so wide. Breakfast was on the coffee table; a mound of pancakes, orange juice and syrup. 'Thanks for breakfast Alice.'

'It's not like she made it. She just called downstairs,' Rose scoffed.

'It was still nice of her,' Bella defended.

'You're welcome Bella. Now eat so we can get going!'

'Where to today?'

'Museums!'

'One, Alice,' Rosalie said through gritted teeth. 'Just one.'

'Fine. One museum.' Alice smiled winningly. 'And one art gallery!'

'Sounds good to me,' Bella admitted, because a bit of culture after the starvation that was Forks was really welcome.

'Fine,' Rosalie relented.

'It shouldn't take all day. Do you want to do something after that?' Bella asked in a tentative voice.

Rose gave her an appraising look. 'I'll think about it,' was all she said, but Bella figured that was a start.

With another impatient look from Alice, she dug into the still warm pancake pile.

They managed, through sheer force of will (and in Rosalie's case, arms) to drag Alice out of the art gallery by noon. Despite the large breakfast Bella was hungry and a bit tired of looking at Canadian art. Rosalie wasn't hungry but she was obviously very tired of looking at it too.

They ended up at the corner of the block with a pouting Alice. 'I was nearly done,' she chastised.

'Yeah, but Bella and I were _definitely_ done. You've been there a dozen times, at least, Alice. Bella needs lunch and I need some fresh air.'

Somehow, Bella doubted the last part of that statement, at least in its literal sense, since the city centre of Vancouver wasn't any fresher than any other metropolis on the planet. Still, it was a pleasant enough day out, with a solid layer of high cloud and a mild temperature.

'Fine,' Alice relented. 'Is the museum still okay?'

Rosalie gave Bella a look. 'Your choice.'

Bella blinked at her. 'Oh, um, what's it a museum of, Alice?'

'Well, there's the Maritime Museum or the Museum of Vancouver. They're beside each other. We can go to either.'

'The Maritime Museum might be interesting. I don't think I've ever been to one.'

The smile returned to Alice's face. 'This way then! It's only a couple of miles.'

'We're walking?' Bella asked dubiously, hesitating as Alice set off down the street.

'Exercise is good, Bella,' Alice told her in a patient tone.

'Right. Fine. Walking's good.'

'If you see anything you'd like for lunch, we'll stop. There's plenty of restaurants along Hornby.'

They made it only a few blocks before Bella decided she didn't want a restaurant. She wanted a hot dog from a street vendor. She had to go through two choices on opposite sides of the street before Alice agreed that it was safe enough. Happy to have the easiest meal she'd ever had when out with the Cullens, Bella nibbled at the jumbo dog as they continued their walk.

Rosalie kept giving her sidelong looks that didn't stop until she'd finished her lunch.

'What's wrong?' Bella finally asked.

Rose almost looked guilty. 'I thought walking and eating would be too difficult for you.'

'Rose!' Alice admonished.

'No, it's okay. She's right. I don't usually do that. Knowing my luck I probably would trip on something or choke. I won't do it again.' Bella grimaced internally. Yeah, that could have ended really badly. But maybe Alice would have foreseen it and warned her. Bella wasn't sure; sometimes it was hard to tell exactly how the pixie's gift worked.

They were out of the main busy streets by then, though there were still people around. It was therefore a surprise to Bella when Alice and Rosalie suddenly froze. For the moment they were on a block without anyone else in obvious site. Bella didn't know what had caused the two vampires to suddenly go on the defence. If Alice had seen something she couldn't have told her sister so quickly. Clearly they had heard something.

They shared a look. 'Stay here Bella!' Alice told her sternly and then she and her blonde sister were racing down the street at a barely human pace. They ducked into an alleyway about fifty paces down. Bella followed.

When she cleared the mouth of the alley, it was to find a narrow winding path between two tall buildings. With the grey skies, it wasn't particularly bright. Further down, in an even dimmer area, Bella could make out Rosalie's yellow hair. Keeping to one side and edging forward slowly, Bella followed them in.

It wasn't as far down as it looked. Maybe thirty or forty feet in the alley ended in a solid wood gate. On the ground in front of Rosalie was a large man, not moving. Alice was standing beside her sister, speaking so fast and quietly that Bella did have a hope of following along. Rosalie's entire body was taunt as a bowstring and she was breathing heavily, considering she didn't need to breathe.

And then Bella noticed there was someone else. Huddled up against the corner made by where the fence met the wall was a young woman. She was probably about Bella's age, or not much older. Her entire body was shaking as she sobbed, hugging her knees close to her body.

'Um,' Bella started.

'I told you not to follow us,' Alice sighed.

'What happened?' Bella asked tentatively, keeping her eyes firmly on the young woman.

Alice followed her gaze. 'He was,' she swallowed unnecessarily. 'He was going to hurt her. We heard her cry out.' Alice stepped away from Rosalie and approached the woman, hands stretched out.

'Are you alright miss? Are you injured?' Bella could tell that Alice was trying not to breathe too deeply in case there was blood involved. Against her will, Bella took an involuntary breath, but she couldn't smell anything over the reek of the alleyway.

The woman let Alice crouch down beside her, clearly not worried about a four-feet nothing pixie.

Bella turned her attention to the other Cullen instead. Slowly, Rosalie seemed to be relaxing; her breathes had returned to normal, at least.

'Rose?' she ventured. Bella was a bit surprised when Rosalie actually turned around to look at her.

'I'm fine,' she said, though unconvincingly.

Bella gestured to the man who still hadn't moved. 'Is he...?'

Rosalie huffed. 'No. Alice wouldn't let me ki—' she cut sharply to her sister. 'He's just knocked out,' she finished instead.

'We should get her to the hospital. We only just passed St. Paul's,' Alice suggested.

'Yes,' Rose agreed.

'Bella, would you help me?' the smaller sister asked. Clearly she thought Bella would be less intimidating and more welcome than their blonde companion who had just knocked the attacker out cold.

Together they got the woman on her feet. She was small, no bigger than Bella, and she couldn't have weighed anymore either. Her sobs had turned to a dry choking wheeze and she was still shaking intermittently. They walked slowly to the mouth of the alleyway and turned left, back towards the hospital a block away.

'I'm Bella,' she tried to introduce herself. The woman gave her a pleading look, but didn't respond. Bella cast a worried look at Alice, begging for information. Alice just shook her head slightly.

They didn't get any attention until they were within sight of the emergency room entrance. A doctor was standing at the corner of the building, smoking a cigarette. He dropped the fag immediately and ran forward.

'What happened?' he asked.

'A guy tried to attack her, but my sisters and I walked by the alley at the right time. When he saw us he just took off, but I think he got a few punches in before he left,' Rosalie announced, gesturing at the split lip and red cheek that decorated the battered woman's face.

'I'll take her,' the doctor offered. 'Good thing you were in the right place, at the right time.'

'Yes, very good,' Alice agreed with a slight smile. They stood watching the man lead the shaking woman into Emerg.

'Will she be alright?' Bella asked again.

Alice zoned out for a beat as she looked. 'Yes. She's been on the streets, I think, for a few weeks at least. But that nice doctor will make sure she gets the help she needs.'

'Good.'

'We should go,' Rosalie suggested.

'I'm not really up for a museum visit anymore,' Bella put in. Rosalie nodded too.

'We'll go back to the hotel. Let's get a taxi. We can do the museum tomorrow,' Alice led them down the street to a main intersection. It took the work of only a moment to hail down a taxi driver and pile into the car.

They didn't speak a word to each other until they were safe inside their hotel room.

'I'm really glad of that advanced hearing sometimes,' Bella commented. 'If we hadn't been walking by...'

'He would have beaten her to death. And if she was lucky, that's all he would have done,' Rosalie said in a cold voice Bella had never heard from her before.

'I'm glad you stopped him,' Bella told her, with as much gratitude as she could put in her voice. She laid a hand on her arm and was surprised when Rosalie didn't shrug her off. She was surprised to watch the blonde's face crumble. Vampires couldn't cry, but Bella had learned that they could certainly look miserable.

They made it to the sofa, Bella and Alice on either side of the taller woman. 'It's alright,' Alice said soothingly, though of course it clearly wasn't.

'I couldn't let him do that to her. I couldn't let him hurt her,' Rose nearly sobbed.

'Of course not.'

'I wanted to kill him,' she admitted, her voice a whisper.

'But you didn't. You stopped yourself. He wasn't worth it, Rose,' Alice assured her.

Bella, feeling useless, just sat there with a warm hand on Rosalie's arm, trying to offer what comfort she could. She knew the story, of course. She'd heard all the Cullens' stories since she'd met Edward, but Rosalie's tale had always struck Bella as the most tragic of them all. It was something she couldn't imagine and didn't want to ever have to. Edward had told her time and again that Rosalie's past was what made her so standoffish of Bella in the first place. Bella hadn't been able to understand that; after all, Rosalie had Emmett now and a family and to Bella that was enough. She was only just beginning to understand that Rose would never really stop missing what she couldn't yet have. It had been stolen from her; taken by men without a thought for her future. Much like that man lying unconscious in the alleyway today. For the first time, Bella felt a surge of anger.

'But he could hurt someone else!' she exclaimed loudly.

Rosalie looked at her. 'Yes. Yes, you're right, he could. And that can't happen.'

'Rose, don't—' Alice tried to stop her.

'No Alice. Bella's right. He'll just go and find someone else to attack. I'm going to track him. With any luck, he'll still be in that alley.'

'Rose, you can't do it.'

Rose gave her sister a hard look. 'I won't kill him, Alice. I won't forfeit everything for one scum of the earth. But I'm going to make damn sure he never hurts anyone else every again.'

They stared at each other a moment, but Alice finally nodded. 'Alright. Come back soon,' she said, getting up to give her sister a brief hug.

When the door shut with a loud click behind her, Bella gave Alice a disbelieving look. 'You're letting her go alone?'

'She'll be fine, Bella,' Alice tapped her head. 'And she needs to do this alone.'

Bella didn't have any response to that. They passed the next two hours in tense silence, attempting to watch a movie. Bella didn't even know who was in it; she was paying so little attention. She knew Alice was focused on Rose, making sure everything was okay.

The door opening made Bella jump a foot into the air. Rosalie's hair was a bit dishevelled and there was a streak of dirt on her beige jacket, but otherwise it looked nothing like she'd just come from dealing with a criminal.

She disappeared into the bathroom and Bella heard the water run for a bit. She was cleaned up when she returned to the room.

'He's in jail,' Rose stated matter-of-factly.

'Good,' Bella agreed vehemently.

'Don't hate, Bella,' she cautioned. 'It's not worth it. He's been dealt with and he'll never harm anyone else. Apparently, this wasn't his first assault. He's got a string of charges against him. He's going away for a very long time.'

'Justice,' Alice whispered.

'It feels almost as good as vengeance,' Rosalie huffed with the slightest smile. It wasn't a happy one, but it was relieved.

'Rose,' Bella started and then stopped when the blonde turned to her. 'I don't really know how to say this...' She paused and took a deep breath. 'I won't ever be able to empathise with what you've suffered in your life; I _can't_, but I think I understand a bit better now.'

Rosalie's look softened into a real smile. 'I dearly hope you can never empathise, Bella. I very much hope for that. But you've found Edward. You have your mate, so you should never have to. But thank you. I know we haven't had the best relationship, and I'm to blame for that. I mean, Alice had to resort to a weekend away just to get us to talk!' Alice smiled at that. 'I want you to know, before you stand at that alter, that I will count you as a sister afterwards. And I already consider you a friend.'

Touched beyond words, Bella leaned over to hug her. Rosalie gave her a brief embrace, careful not to squeeze her too tightly, as Emmett always did.

'Great!' Alice exclaimed loudly, when they had broken apart. 'Now the fun begins!'

'I shudder to think,' Bella laughed.

'No shopping, Alice; you promised,' her sister reminded her.

'No shopping. But we'll do the museum tomorrow. How about we go out tonight? See a movie and have dinner? Something proper teenagers do when they're away from their parents.'

'Don't 'proper' teenagers usually go out to bars and embrace underage drinking?' Rose put in.

'Let's not,' Bella suggested.

'No, let's not,' Alice agreed. 'How about a pizzeria for dinner? And the movie is your choice.'

Bella smiled. 'Sounds great.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Admittedly, it was a few days ago that I last checked, but at the time I didn't own the Twilight universe. I highly doubt that's changed since.**

**And now the conclusion.**

They hadn't made it back to the hotel until after midnight and Bella had promptly crawled into bed and fallen asleep. It has been a busy day, after all, both physically and emotionally.

The evening had been very...normal. Alice had been right and it had seemed like just a group of best friends out for a good time. Bella had hope now that it would be like that after the wedding too. She was going to lose Angela and Jessica and everyone else she had ever considered a friend, but at least she's have Alice and Rosalie forever.

They also graciously let her sleep in Sunday morning. As such, it was nearly eleven when they arrived by car at the Maritime Museum. It was a bit of a dull day and trying hard to rain, so the offer of taking the car had been most welcome to Bella. Rosalie even dropped her and Alice at the door so they wouldn't get wet at all and drove off to park the car.

As soon as Bella walked through the front door, she knew this particular museum had been a good choice. It was very traditional and everywhere she looked there was some new interesting artefact. Bella had always liked the sea; whether it came from growing up so far away from it or that fact that she'd been born beside it didn't matter. Bella was examining an historic diving costume when Rose caught up with them.

'Rain is coming down harder. I suggest we stay here until it's over.'

Alice nodded. 'One hour and...thirty-four minutes.'

'Plenty of time,' Bella said with a smile. 'I'm just going to wander, I think.'

'Have fun then,' Alice told her.

It was nice to be – mostly – out of her bodyguards' sights for a bit. Bella was well aware that they had both watched her like hawks the night before while they were out and had taken care to keep her between them, afraid after the afternoon's encounter. It was less obvious than what Edward did, which was to refuse to let her out of the house in the first place, but Bella was grateful for it. The previous afternoon's event had rattled her a bit and she was more than a little surprised there hadn't been a nightmare of some kind, but Alice had said she'd been fairly quiet.

There was plenty in the museum to entertain them for an hour and a half. Bella spent a good third of it exploring the drawer wall in the children's centre, ignoring the looks the parents there were giving her. She didn't care; somehow the kids stuff all seemed more interesting to her now that she was older.

Alice finally found her sometime later to say the rain had stopped and maybe they should get lunch. Since it was nearing one, Bella agreed.

'There's that other museum next door, right?'

'Yes,' Alice told her.

'Can we go? I'm in the mood today. Unless Rose doesn't want to.'

'No, that'll be fine. But lunch first.'

'Of course. We must feed the human. I'm not going to starve if I miss a meal, Alice,' Bella told her in the same exasperated voice she used for Edward.

Alice sighed. 'Fine; museum first, lunch later. But you are going to eat.'

'I will.'

All three of the women wandered across the divide to the Museum of Vancouver, careful of the puddles all around. It rained just as much north of the border as it did to the south, Bella observed, which was probably why the Cullens loved Vancouver so much.

Bella lasted less than an hour before hunger started to claim her. Rosalie was metaphorically twiddling her thumbs by the front door, but they had to go and drag Alice out of the 1950s exhibit.

'I loved this decade!' she told Bella, a bit too loudly.

'I'm sure your mother did,' Bella said, equally as loud. 'I'll have to ask her to tell me all about it.' Rosalie followed behind them, snickering, since no one had actually been paying attention.

Outside it looked like more rain.

'Okay, the next time we go away for the weekend can we go somewhere with good weather?'

'Weather is fine for us,' Rosalie reminded her.

'I'm not asking for blue skies and sun, but no rain would be a pleasant change. Are you really sure it's going to be –' Bella didn't get any further.

'The wedding will be perfect,' the pixie assured her with a wink.

'Good,' Bella sighed unhappily. No worries about wet dresses, at least. Or slipping on the grass and spraining an ankle.

'We could go home, if you wanted to,' Rose suggested.

Alice clapped her hands. 'Oh, we could take the scenic route!'

'I shudder to ask.'

'The ferry across to the Island and then down to Port Angeles. We've still got enough time before the sun sets,' Alice continued, eyes glazed as she looked ahead.

'Why not?' Bella shrugged. She'd be back in her own bed, with Edward, and have seen a bit more of British Columbia while she was at it.

'We can stop for early dinner in Victoria. There are lots of places by the pier. And it will have stopped raining again by then.'

'Sounds good to me,' Bella said as she followed the two vampires back to the car.

The hotel seemed sorry to have them leave, but since Alice paid for the extra night they wouldn't be staying with a smile, the man at the desk quickly softened. They made the three o'clock ferry across the harbour with no time to spare.

The car got an appreciative whistle from the docking man as they drove on. Rosalie got one too when they climbed out of the car after parking it. She returned with a self satisfied smile.

Bella stood at the upper railing as they made the crossing, eyes carefully focused on the horizon line. Alice had promised she wouldn't be sea sick, but Bella wasn't going to take any chances. However, the cool breeze and strangely calm seas ensured that they reached Victoria with Bella still firmly looking forward to dinner.

It was early enough that finding a table at the pier wasn't a problem. Bella decided on a fish place just down from the ferry. Dinner ended up being a bit rushed, since they needed to be back at the US bound ferry terminal in enough time to clear customs. But it was early enough that the restaurant wasn't busy and dinner didn't end up taking more than an hour anyways. The three of them had a pleasant conversation about Dartmouth and the 'plans' for school that autumn. They kept their voices low enough that no one would hear and find it odd that three teenage girls were plotting to lie to everyone they knew and then run off to Alaska.

Bella had to laugh at the situation, because she was a horrible liar, especially to people she knew. And there wasn't going too much constant lying involved. In a month or so the only lie that would matter would be her supposed 'death' and Bella wasn't going to be around to have to tell it to anyone. The others would take care of that.

When this sober thought interrupt an otherwise nice meal, Alice asked for the bill and they returned to pick up the car for the next leg of the trip.

'It will be all right,' Alice told her.

'I know. I just...hate lying.'

'We'll be the ones doing most of it. And you're not going to care much, at first. Between Edward and blood, I think you'll find you won't care about anything else at all.'

'Right,' Bella agreed, with as much enthusiasm as she could muster over that statement. It was what she wanted; of that she was one hundred percent sure, but it was going to make it easier.

'Cheer up. We'll be back in Forks by ten and you can have that fiancé of yours all to yourself for the night. And tomorrow night and the night after and –'

'Thanks Alice!' Bella cut her off before the conversation could turn embarrassing, as it so often did these days. Emmett was the worst. Every conversation Bella had with him ended in insinuations about the honeymoon. It was sort of funny, when she wasn't blushing red.

'Right, the car is checked in. We need to head over to customs now,' Rosalie butted in with perfect timing. Bella gave her a grateful smile, even if the blonde wouldn't necessarily know what it was for.

Customs involved a rather long wait in the car. Thankfully, it was comfortable. Almost too comfortable, in fact, since Bella was starting to feel sleepy after eating dinner. But once they made it through and had parked the car on the ferry deck, Alice went off in search of a cup of tea and that helped waked her up.

Bella was almost surprised to find, when they arrived in Port Angeles, that Edward wasn't waiting for her. Alice smiled coyly when Bella asked why.

'I may have forgotten to call my brother.' She put a hand over her mouth. 'Oops,' she shrugged.

Bella considered that. 'So you can take me right home and he won't know?'

'Well, not until we get back to the house. Then he's probably going to wonder if we left you in Canada, or something.'

'I doubt that,' she argued. 'I'll get things settled with Charlie and have a shower. Tell him to come over later?'

'Of course,' Alice drawled out, sounding almost like her husband.

Bella smiled.

* * *

><p>'I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd last all weekend, but you only came home a bit early.'<p>

Edward's voice greeted her when she returned to her room and she was grateful she had changed in the bathroom.

'That was weather related. We had fun,' Bella admitted.

'So Alice tells me. Even Rosalie seemed fairly happy, which is saying something,' Edward said. He rose from his place on the bed and came over to hug her.

'I missed you,' he breathed into her hair.

'Me too. I'm glad I went, though. It was good, for all of us.'

'Which was the point of this endeavour. At least I have you to myself again.'

'All night, I hope. I've missed having you beside me. Alice is nice and all, but...'

'Not the right vampire?' he smiled.

'Not at all,' Bella breathed, mesmerised as usual when he looked at her.

'Glad to hear,' he said and finally kissed her hello.


End file.
